Monday, November 30, 2015

And the wingnuts who’ve been fanning the flames that Muslims are terrorists now have some ‘splaining to do — though I think they’ll stay silent ion this one — after what happened in San Antonio, Texas last week.

A man — identified as 38-year-old Mariano Talavera — in army fatigues and waving an American flag entered the Islamic Center of San Antonio where members were praying, and began wiping his boots on their prayer rugs because … Muslim.

The worshippers tried to calm Talavera down, even asking him politely to remove his boots as a sign of respect; Muslims remove their shoes before entering a mosque to symbolize a "clean space" in which to worship.

But Talavera responded by walking deeper into the mosque and into a prayer room reserved for women so he could wipe his boots on every mat he saw while yelling obscenities and cursing Islam.

The police, who arrived after mosque members called them, asked Talavera why he was there, he said he’d come to worship. The police, rightly so, arrested him on a criminal trespass charge, confiscated his backpack, and removed him from the mosque.

Good. Lock him up, except … Solomon Hamide, president of the Islamic Center of San Antonio, says the mosque will not press charges because they fear additional backlash if there were to do so.

How is that American where a man can walk in to a place of worship and deface it and then, out of fear of reprisals, the mosque won’t press charges? Who is the actual purveyor of terror here?

Happily enough, not everyone in San Antonio shares the views and the lunacy of Mariano Talavera. Hamide said the Islamic Center has received many phone calls from the public offering their support, and he expressed his gratitude to them, especially a woman called Linda who invited members of the Islamic Center to her home for Thanksgiving.

Oh the fury that people in this country would feel if a Muslim man walked into a Christian church and disrupted a prayer service and defaced any part of the church.

Take Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, for instance. He was thefirstof more than thirty — mostly Republican — governors hoping to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states.

But, as happens with these haters, Snyder has difficulty explaining it. See, he was asked about his specific concerns regarding the current two-year screening process for refugees seeking to enter this country and was unable to point to a single problem with it:

“I wouldn’t single out any specific problem I have with it.”

And yet he’s saying it doesn’t work and needs to be fixed because … Muslim. And he's saying he wants a review of the process with which he can find no fault in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, a suicide bombing in Beirut, and the bombing of a plane over Egypt:

“When you have these events it does make sense to pause and simply say, ‘Let’s continue looking at these events. I really want the federal government to come back and say, ‘We have now made a review of these, at least three situations, and believe that our current system is acceptable – or not and that they’re making some modifications.’”

But when Snyder was reminded about the way people from Western Europe enter this country — they don’t even need to apply for a Visa — he replied:

“Well I wouldn’t necessarily [limit the entry of tourists]. This is a particular case, this refugee process, where there is a high degree of concern.”

Odd, because none of the attackers, at least in Paris, were refugees, but were … wait for it, it’s rich ... citizens of, yes, Western Europe; and any of those people could have easily entered this country, but then again, Muslim.

Hate; it’s apparently the new ‘In’ thing in parts of this country because so many are lining up to join in.

In light of the newest assault by the religious right, the conservative wingnuts, and the GOP, against civil rights protections based on sexual orientation, the NCAA is said to be reconsidering sites already chosen to host its championships … including Indianapolis.

“We’ll continue to review current events in all cities bidding on NCAA championships and events, as well as cities that have already been named as future host sites, such as Indianapolis.” — Bob Williams, NCAA senior vice president for communications

So, if this move happens, it might put an end to Indianapolis being the site of the men’s basketball Final Four — set to return to the city in 2021. And that could spell huge economic losses for the city; when the same event was held there this year it pumped an estimated $71 million into the local economy.

Ouch. Indianapolis is also scheduled to host first- and second-round games in the 2017 men’s basketball tournament though that also may not happen.

That NCAA decision comes on the heels of the vote in Houston earlier this month to repeal an ordinance that banned discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and so the NCAA is rethinking allowing Houston to host any events as well, though the already scheduled 2016 men’s Final Four will take place there because of the advanced planning and scheduling needed for such an event. Likewise, the women’s Final Four in Indianapolis will go on as planned in April.

Things can change, though; there is hope that the Indiana state Senate may actually pass an LGBT-inclusive anti-discrimination bill, and therefore successfully dodge that economic bullet. And hopefully Houston will get the message, too, that hate literally does not pay.

I’m talking about that shooting last week at the Planned Parenthood on Colorado where Robert Dear went on a rampage and murdered three people and wounded nine others. Terrorism; by, as I said on Twitter, spurring the ire of some rightwingnuts, a Christian extremist. And then I received even more angry Tweets when I said the GOP wasn’t commenting because a Christian with a gun shooting up a Planned Parenthood was “their base.”

Because it is; when you are the party that calls Christianity the only real religion — and ask that only Christian Syrian refugees be allowed entrance to this melting Pot called America — and when you are in the back pocket of the NRA and have almost never condemned any shooting spree in this country and when you spout lie about Planned Parenthood — and I’m looking at you Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee — then that man, Robert Dear, is your base.

So, what to do what to do; well, Carly and the Huckster immediately set about saying their lies about Planned Parenthood selling ‘baby parts’ for profit was not in any way responsible for the attack … even though Dear shouted that message as he was killing innocent people.

But it’s Republican loon Ted Cruz, who I am sure readied his thoughts on the matter while sitting in a bunker with an aluminum foil hat upon his head because he says, and I kid you not, that Robert Dear wasn’t a rightwingnut Christian Republican gun nut, but a … wait for it … it’s rich … but a leftist transgender female.

Uh huh. So, it’s the left and the transgender community to blame for this.

‘It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is. We know that he was a man who was registered to vote as a woman. The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point there is very little evidence to suggest that.’

Wow. But if he wasn't pro-life, why shout about selling 'baby parts' Ted?

And Ted, why would you get your "news", not from reputable authorities, police or FBI, but from the conservative Gateway Pundit websitethat says Dear was listed as female on the Park County voting register?

And, again, from reputable sources, there is no evidence to suggest Dear was transgender, and that he was most likely listed as female due to a clerical error.

But hey, when you’re Ted Cruz and a member of your base has gone off and started killing people, you might sit in your bunker and kinda gleefully smile, but you’ll step outside and immediately begin lying and pandering and mislabeling the truth.

Robert Dear was a Christian extremist with access to guns and a mind fed lies about Planned Parenthood. In other words, he was the GOP base, which is why they will say nothing, next to nothing, or just outright lie about what happened last week in yet another act of homegrown terrorism.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

It must be Break-up Season — you know, break-up before the holidays so you don’t have to buy that ‘Special Someone’ a gift — because there are a lotta splits a’happening …

Let’s back it up a few months …

In September, we learned that Gotham star Morena Baccarin had left her husband, Austin Chick, and was banging her Gotham co-star Ben McKenzie when they made Couple Debut at the Emmy after-parties.

And we know they were banging because a day later we learned that Morena was pregnant … by a few months … with Ben’s child … which means they were banging back in July while she was still married to her husband and the father of her other child. Chick says he and Morena were still living together during the summer and working on their marriage, when Ben knocked her up; Morena, naturally, disagrees.

But, it’s all messy and sordid and apparently the courts agree with Chick because Morena has been ordered to pay Chick a lotta coins … some $23,000 a month, or … $2,693 in child support for their son Julius, and $20,249 for spousal support.

That’s 275K a year, proving that it doesn’t pay to bang a co-star while you’re still married, Morena.

In other break-ups … it appears thatKate Beckinsale’shusband, director Len Wiseman, has been spotted out-and-aboutwith a 20-something jump-off, “model” CJ Franco, while Beckinsale is away, working, inPrague. And he’s doing the Not Wearing His Wedding Ring routine, too.

Now folks are saying that Kate and Len’s marriage was over months ago, though at that time, they weren’t telling anyone … according to sources … and it could’a been Lohan because maybe Len has dated hookers.

Of course, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Wiseman was the director of one of those Underworld movies that Kate makes, and no one sees, and when she worked with him years ago she got a job for her then-boyfriend, Michael Sheen, in the movie. Trouble was, by the time filming ended Kate and Len were together and Michael was out of the picture.

So, this is nothing new for Len, really.

Say it isn’t so! America’s Royal Couple … I kid … Kylie Jenner and Tyga are over too??!?!

Where are my smelling salts? Oh, wait, maybe it was just an attempt at some attention; she’s a Kardastrophe, you know, and if they go ten minutes without seeing their names in print That Woman starts charging them … or charging at them, nostrils flaring.

But then, a mere 48 hours after it was announced that Kim2.0 had dumped her boyfriend, she posted a Snapchat picture of the two of them playing footsies on a couch with a message explaining that “Everyone needs to chill.”

But do we chill? Or do we wonder why Kylie was spotted leaving a clubwith ASAP Rocky last week? Uh huh … cue That Woman, who is spinning it that ASAP Rocky was trying to convince Kylie to give Tyga another chance because nothing screams Relationship Counselor like ASAP Rocky and Kylie Jenner Nightclub.

Either way, Tyga will still be getting coins for E! for appearing on Keeping Up With The Kardastrophes and the breakup will occur as a season finale … just like Mama planned.

Let’s take a breather from the break-ups and talk about One Direction.

In Who’s The Bigger Diva news, the award this week goes to the boy band who ALLEGEDLY had Grace Jones bumped from The Jonathan Ross Show.

The episode was supposed to feature the boys and Grace together, but those petty little divas were afraid Grace would “overshadow” their appearance so they asked that maybe she not be allowed to share a stage with them. And Grace was ALLEGEDLY royally pissed off about it, and y’all don’t wanna piss off Miss Jones, because she traveled from Jamaica to London just for the show.

Naturally, a spokesperson for those boys is saying they had nothing to do with Jones being cut from the show, adding that “it wasn’t even discussed with them.”

Yeah, uh huh, then why would a show cut Grace ‘Mother-effing’ Jones at all unless some pre-pube boys wanted it that way. And, yes, I know they aren’t pre-pubescent; they just act like it.

Howsabout Tyra Banks braking up with another TV show?

A few weeks back America’s Next Top Model Who Never Quite Makes It As A Model was cancelled by whatever second-rate network it was on and Tyra Banks, the very next day, tried to spin it that she was pulling the show off the air because it was time.

Tyra has an ego the size of her forehead y’all. But how’s she gonna spin this one? See, Tyra really played up her new talk-show, The FABLife for a hot minute until … she quit The FABLife.

And she’s saying she did it because she wants to focus on her line of cosmetics … uh huh … and that she’ll pop up every now and again and stay on as executive producer until the end of the year. But, rumor has it that Tyra didn’t exactly go quietly. She and another executive producer didn’t like each other and Tyra pitched a fit because, she says, producers went back on a promise to let her regularly push her craptastic makeup line on the show.

Still, it’s all good; no Tyra on TV is TV worth watching.

Back in July 2014, Sherri Shepherd’s super messy divorce drama was everywhere. She’d been married to Lamar Sally — a shady gold-digger … according to Sherri — and says he convinced her to have a baby via a surrogate; the child would not have any biological connectionto Sherri since they didn’t use her eggs.

But, before the child was born, Sherri dumped Sally, filed for divorce and told the court she had no interest in paying child support to Lamar to raise a child who wasn’t “hers” biologically, even though she agreed to thesurrogacy, signed the paper for the surrogacy, and paid for the surrogacy.

Last July, the court disagreed, and Sherri was ordered to pay child support for the child she never wanted; but the court left open the possibility that if Sherri could prove that Lamar defrauded her, she wouldn’t have to pay a dime.

Big surprise then that Good Christian Woman Sherri, who wanted a surrogate baby until she didn’t want one and then wanted no part of it at all ever, couldn’t prove fraud and so her last ditch effort to avoidpaying child support was shot down in court.

And so she’ll continue to pay … $4,100 per month until the child turnsthirteen … and then it’s bumped up to $4,600. Hopefully Lamar will go the Direct Deposit route so he and Sherri won’thave to face one another.

Okay, last week we learned that Carly Simon’s song “You’re So Vain” was partially about Warren Beatty because she told thatstory in her memoir Boys In The Trees. But, because that story isn’t enough to sell books, she’s also revealing that, back in 1965, Sean Connery wanted to get some Carly … if you know what I mean … but he had one catch: he wanted athreesome with Carly and [gulp] her sister.

Carly says that when she was 20, and her sister Lucy was 22, they were traveling from London to New York on a ship and met a then 35-year-old Sean Connery.Carly says that the three of them had drinks and ended up in his cabin where Connery, who was married at the time, suggested the ménage-à-oh-no-they-bettah-don’t.

Carly and Lucy said thanks, but no thanks, but the next night Lucy did end up doing the 007 Deed all by herself with Connery. And Carly was so upset by this betrayal — I guess she wanted to Bond with Sean … get it? — thatwhen they got to New York, she ended their musical duo The Simon Sisters.

So … Sean Connery Yoko’d The Simon Sisters? That should sell one or two copies of Carly’s book.

After their marriage ended over the summer Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting learned a lesson many of us already know: don’t ever get a tattoo of a lover-husband-boyfriend-girlfriend-one-nightstand’s name, or wedding date, tattooed on your body.

See, Kaley went and got their wedding date inked into her back and Ryan got hername tattooed on his arm, and then almost as soon as that ink dried, it was over. What to do? What to do?

Well, Kaley was kinda lucky; she could have scoured Tindr for another man to marry and then married him on the same date, and only have had to change the year. Ryan would have to find a girl named Kaley and that is far more difficult.

But, Kaley decided she didn’t want to try her luck on securing the same wedding date, so she had another tattoo inked over the original: it’s a moth … a moth that looks a lot like the moth on the Silence of the Lambsposter.

And now someone is out looking for fava beans and a nice Chianti.

And speaking of divorces …

After Chris Rock filed for divorce from his wife of 18 years, Malaak Compton-Rock, itbegan to get real ugly. They fought over custody of their children and over money, naturally, but now there’s a whole newsub-basement of ugly.

See, back in 2008, a girl from South Africa named Ntombi began living with the Rocks; Ntombi’s biological parents live in South Africa, so no one really knows why she moved into the Rock house, except that she did and was treated like a Rock off-spring, even attending events with Chris. And that’s where the ugly comes in …

Around the time that Chris filed divorce papers, South African officials started looking closely at how Ntombi ended up in the US. See, there is ALLEGEDLY no record of the Rocks adopting Ntombi; Chris never signed papers to legally adopt Ntombi and it was Malaak who brought her tothe US.

And so, while Chris regularly sees his 2 biological daughters, he hasn’t once seen or spoken to Ntombi in over a year and his people say hedoesn’t have a child, adopted or otherwise, named Ntombi.

Nice father, Chris; you’ve been treating this girl like a daughter since she was a baby and now? Not so much.

Another divorce story?

This week a Manhattan judge shish-kebabed Stephanie March, the former wife of celebrity chef and adulterer Bobby Flay for hauling him into court over some old Food Network videos.

Though Flay and March finalized their divorce in July, she filed a motion demanding $105,000 for the videos that feature her with Flay and that aired on the Food Network. She claimed the videos violated the divorce agreement that prevented both sides from using one another’s imagesfor profit.

But the judge declared the dinner over, and the gray train halted, because the Food Network spots predate the split and are controlled by the TV channel, not Flay.

Friday, November 27, 2015

Jack Swanson is a little boy who lives in south Texas and he did something last week that a lot of us might not do, and a lot of us might rail against.

After a community mosque in their neighborhood had been defaced in a Hate Crime, seven-year-old Jack took the $20 from his piggy bank — twenty bucks he’d been saving to buy an iPad — and gave it to the mosque.

Twenty bucks isn’t a lot of money, unless you’re a seven-year-old … or unless you’re Faisal Naem, a board member from the Islamic Center of Pflugerville, who said Jack’s gift was comparable to “$20 million” to the Muslim community.

And when Ardalan Iftikhar — known to some as The Muslim Guy on social media — heard about Jack’s gift, he contacted Jack’s mother, Laura, and a few days later Jack got a package and a note in the mail:

‘Dear Jack,

You had saved $20 in your piggybank for an Apple iPad. But then a local Islamic mosque was vandalised.

So you donated your $20 to this local Texas mosque. Because of your amazing generosity & kind heart.

Please enjoy this Apple iPad with our sincere thanks :-).

Love,

The American Muslim Community.’

Wouldn’t this be a great world if there were more Jack Swanson’s in it? I mean, of any age, we could use more Jack Swanson’s.

Earlier this week, Modern Family star Reid Ewing—he’s Haley’s kinda dimwitted on-again-off-again boyfriend—made news after opening up about his battles with body dysmorphia and addiction to cosmetic surgery.

But then he made headlines in an even better way when he Tweeted about seeing Eugene Bata, another man with body dysmorphia issues being profiled on Good Morning America, and calling him, ahem, ‘hot as f**k.’

When a fellow Twitterer asked if he had just outed himself, Ewing replied:

‘I was never in.’

Well, never in or newly out, bravo Reid. Your story about body dysmorphia will help so many, and your casual attitude about being gay will do the same.

So, even though you didn’t come out — because you didn’t have to — please accept as our gift The Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda.

Chris Hemsworth, on passing the 'Sexiest Man Alive' baton on to David Beckham:

“Although I knew for the last 12 months this day would come, it still hurts. As I fade into my weathered wrinkled exterior, I hope my time will be remembered then forgotten then forgotten some more (insert crying music). P.S. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. P.P.S. David Beckham is so dreamy and has cool tats.”

On this day after Thanksgiving, I am thankful that Chris Hemsworth is around to be my Sexiest Man Alive every year, and that he's secure enough in himself to call Beckham 'dreamy.'

“Playing even his love interest on the show, back in the day, I go, ‘Ick! That’s not fair. It’s scary.’ I have sympathy for him because, you know, he’s sick and it’s awful, but man, he’s going to have to take some major accountability with many people in his life.”

And, still giving thanks, I am thankful that most people have a brain that fully functions and don't act so foolishly when it comes to HIV.

Chloë Grace Moretz, actress, on her family and her two gay brothers Trevor and Colin:

“To see my brothers struggle with the anxiety of having to come out was awful. … People would call them the F-word, and I would get so angry. It was really hard to see my brothers be hated on or bullied, so I stood up for them. We shouldn’t be using these terms to create more labels and segregate us further apart than we already are…Back when my mom was in college, when things were more taboo, she had lots of gay and trans friends, people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. So we were a very open household. My mom tells us people asked her, ‘Why are you letting your son run around in a pink Power Ranger costume?’ Her answer was: ‘Because he wants to wear it, and it makes him smile. Why would I take that away from him?’”

And I am thankful that there are sisters, and families, like this one in the world.

“The one reason I didn’t come out more fully, really, is because I knew it would hurt my mother. She was so southern, so Methodist, she believed so much in Jesus … My mother was pretty traditional. Most of my relatives? Same thing. That generation would be horrified, 20, 30 years ago, if I’d announced it to them. So I never did.”

And I am thankful that times have changed, and parents, even southern parents, have decided to love their children, no matter what their orientation.

I know some people feel policemen, firemen, nurses, are heroes, but that’s their job, their chosen career; I appreciate what they do, but it was their chose. For me a hero is just an ordinary person who does the extraordinary and I can think of two that I would call heroes:

Rosa Parks, who was tired of standing, and

Harvey Milk who was tired of being less than.

Harvey Milk died thirty-five years ago today. Far too soon, I think. I often think, with every stride the LGBT community makes, how Harvey would feel about it, what Harvey might say.

DOMA and Prop 8 are gone; Harvey would have loved that.

Marriage equality on the move, more and more every day; Harvey would have loved that.

Thirty-five years and his words still echo........

“My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.”

“Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.”

“Every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends. You must tell the people you work with. You must tell the people in the stores you shop in. Once they realize that we are indeed their children, that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and all. And once you do, you will feel so much better”

“I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you...And you...And you...Gotta give em hope. Hope will never be silent.”

“I cannot prevent anyone from getting angry, or mad, or frustrated. I can only hope that they’ll turn that anger and frustration and madness into something positive, so that two, three, four, five hundred will step forward, so the gay doctors will come out, the gay lawyers, the gay judges, gay bankers, gay architects … I hope that every professional gay will say ‘enough’, come forward and tell everybody, wear a sign, let the world know. Maybe that will help.”

“All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.”

“If I turned around every time somebody called me a faggot, I’d be walking backward – and I don’t want to walk backward.”

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights...it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.”

“All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.”

“The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, that my friends, that is true perversion!”

He was the first gay person that, for me, wasn't a caricature, and wasn't a victim. He was the first gay person, for me, that made me see that I wasn't a stereotype, that I wasn't less than; that I mattered.

I remember, as a young queerling, hearing the news that he'd been shot and, not being out quite yet, feeling numb and feeling scared. I remember mourning silently that Harvey was gone and wondering what might happen to 'us'.

I think Harvey would be beaming, today, knowing how far we've come, and then he'd tell us to keep working, we still have a ways to go.